


and for every action, a reaction

by greeksalad



Series: ah yes, sapphics (avatar wlw week) [3]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, because apparently that’s the only thing i’m capable of writing, kya’s done w her shit, lin has no regard for her personal safety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeksalad/pseuds/greeksalad
Summary: “You need to be more careful,” she says. Her voice echoes oddly in the confined space of the bathroom.Lin rolls her eyes. “Thiswasme being careful. It’s not as bad as it looks.”Kya snorts. “Darling, I’m the healer. I’ll be the judge of that.”
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Kya II
Series: ah yes, sapphics (avatar wlw week) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903480
Comments: 28
Kudos: 185





	and for every action, a reaction

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: bruises

“Oh, _babe._ ”

Lin tries for a smile, but her resulting wince means it has the opposite effect to the one she intended. “It’s not that bad, Kya.”

“Your breastplate has a giant dent in it,” Kya lists off. “Your face is bleeding in at least three different places. You’re missing a boot.”

Huffing under her breath, Lin clenches her fist, brow furrowing in concentration for a second, before her breastplate – which had surely been crushing her ribs – pops back into shape with a dull, metallic _clang._ “Better?” she asks.

Kya stares at her wife, dumbfounded. “ _No,_ ” she says.

They stare at each other for a second, locked in a silent, well-worn argument, both pairs of eyes narrowed stubbornly. Finally, Lin pushes herself off the wall, which apparently requires an alarming amount of effort, and lets out a low groan. “ _Fine,_ ” she mutters.

\---

The room slowly fills with steam as Kya turns on the taps, letting the bathtub fill with water. Following their usual routine, which is decades-old at this point, Lin perches on the counter, letting Kya carefully peel her armour away from her tender skin.

This time, it’s not _too_ bad, at least when compared with injuries Lin’s come home with before: the left side of her torso is mottled with bruises, and there’s a few small cuts on her face, as well as a clearly fist-shaped bruise on her cheekbone. Nothing appears broken or fractured. Still, Kya can’t help but worry; she knows that, as much as both of them hate to admit it, they’re both _old_ – she’s hitting sixty in a few months (which is truly horrifying) and Lin’s not far behind. The more time goes on, the longer it seems to take for Lin to fully recover, even with the help of Kya’s healing.

“You need to be more careful,” she says. Her voice echoes oddly in the confined space of the bathroom.

Lin rolls her eyes. “This _was_ me being careful. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

Kya snorts. “Darling, I’m the healer. I’ll be the judge of that.”

After another silent staring-contest-slash-argument, Lin relents and lets Kya help her into the tub, grumbling all the while about how _I’m not an invalid, Kya, Spirits._

When she finally gets situated, though, Lin melts against the porcelain, the warm water unravelling the tightly-wound knots in her spine and soothing her sore muscles. She lets out a soft sigh, smiling contentedly, and Kya’s heart warms at the sight. Such open vulnerability from Lin is a rare treat, one just for her, and even after all these years Kya can’t help but quietly marvel over the fact that Lin Beifong, resident control freak and professional emotion-bottler-upper, trusts her enough to relax fully around her.

Getting to her feet, Kya closes her eyes for a moment and concentrates, then begins to move her arms in slow, rhythmic spirals. The water begins to glow, washing the bathroom in an eerie blue light, and Lin’s lips part around another slow, easy sigh.

“So, how’d you get yourself so fucked up this time?”

Lin opens her mouth to reply, then winces slightly as the water ripples against her ribs with a little more pressure. She learned a long time ago not to complain about ‘rough treatment,’ though; all it gets her is a raised eyebrow and an increased likelihood of Kya doing it again, just to spite her. “Remember that new, wannabe triad group I told you about a couple weeks ago?”

Kya hums absently in acknowledgement as she summons a small disc of water and presses it experimentally to the side of Lin’s face. “How’s that feel?”

“Maybe move it a little higher – yeah, that’s better. Anyway, we ended up getting a tipoff that they were raiding a warehouse on the docks – Spirits knows why, though, because they’re only filled with fish.” Lin raises her hand out of the water and gestures to her battered body, lips quirking at the corners in a tired, wry smile. “Needless to say, they weren’t too happy to see us.”

For what seems like the fiftieth time in the last six months, Kya considers bringing up retirement. She doesn’t bother voicing her concerns, though, knowing full well that Little Miss Workaholic will immediately shut her down.

As if reading her mind, Lin lazily blinks open her eyes, which had fallen closed sometime between when she’d gotten in the bath and when she’d started talking, and turns her head to glare at Kya, half-hearted in her tiredness. “I know what you’re thinking, and the answer’s still no.”

Kya has to fight the simultaneous urges to roll her eyes and dump water on her wife’s stubborn head. “I know,” she says, unable to stop fond exasperation creeping into her voice. “That’s why I didn’t ask.”

There’s a beat of silence as Kya concentrates on healing a particularly nasty bruise on Lin’s hip. Lin lets out a content groan and rests her head back against the lip of the tub, facial muscles tensing and relaxing in time with the undulations of the water against her skin. When several minutes pass and Lin doesn’t say anything else, Kya’s a little worried that she’s accidentally fallen asleep. She’s pretty sure she can’t lift Lin out of the tub, but trying to wake up a battle-exhausted Lin is like trying to wake up a tranquilised horse – it doesn’t go well for anyone involved.

Right on cue, Lin lifts her hand out of the water and grabs Kya’s, bringing their intertwined hands down to rest on the edge of the tub.

“Thank you,” Lin says softly.

“Hmm?”

Lin squeezes her hand tightly for a moment, then relaxes her grip. “Thank you for always looking out for me.”

Kya harrumphs. “Well, _someone_ has to. Raava knows how messed up you’d be if I wasn’t around, Mrs I-hate-looking-after-myself-and-receiving-actual-medical-attention.” She fixes a completely unashamed Lin with her best displeased expression, then leans in and kisses the top of her head. “Love you too,” she murmurs. Unable to help herself, she adds, “Also, your hair smells like fish. What did you do, dive head-first into a crate of the stuff?”

Lin squawks indignantly and swats at Kya’s shoulder, sloshing water onto the floor, and Kya dodges out of the way with a laugh. “Too slow, old lady!”

“ _Oi!”_


End file.
